There is no general figure for what you can make with vehicle-to-grid (V2G). The amount is whatever a programme at your address pays, for the specific thing it pays for, minus the costs that run against it. Where no utility or aggregator programme serves your address, export income is zero, whatever your equipment cost.
Key Takeaways
- V2G pays only inside a programme; the programme document defines what is paid for.
- Programmes pay for exported energy, for availability, or deliver value as avoided cost — three different things.
- Extra cycling, conversion losses and programme conditions all net against the payment.
- EVDANCE sells no bidirectional product; its chargers move power one way, into the car.
What a Programme Can Pay For
Programmes do not all buy the same thing. Before any number can mean anything, you need to know which of these payment bases a programme uses — and that is written in the programme’s own terms, not in the charger manual.
| Payment basis | What it means | Where it is defined |
|---|---|---|
| Exported energy | You are paid for the electricity your car sends to the grid, at a rate the programme sets | The programme or export tariff terms you enrol under |
| Availability | You are paid for keeping the car plugged in and available during stated windows, whether or not it is called on | The programme agreement, including its windows and minimum-charge rules |
| Avoided cost | No payment changes hands; the value is charging at cheaper times and discharging instead of buying at peak prices | Your electricity tariff, read against the programme’s schedule |
The third row is the one most often mislabelled as earnings. Shifting when you buy is a saving against your own bill, not income from the grid — and it depends on your tariff’s peak-to-off-peak gap, which is your utility’s document, not a V2G fact.
What Gets Netted Against It
Three costs run against any programme payment, and an honest estimate has to carry all three.
- Extra cycling. Exporting means the battery cycles more than driving alone requires. How much that matters is contested and car-specific; the document that decides your position is the car maker’s battery warranty, where bidirectional use is covered, limited or excluded in the maker’s terms for your exact model.
- Conversion losses. Conversion in both directions is never lossless. The electricity you sell back is less than the electricity you bought, so the price spread has to cover the loss before anything is earned.
- Programme conditions. Plugged-in windows, minimum charge levels and event limits are set in the programme’s documents. Time committed to a programme is time managed to its schedule, not only yours.
The equipment side is a cost stack of its own — charger, installation, approval, metering — weighed the way our overview of whether bidirectional charging is worth it works through.
Why Headline Figures Do Not Transfer
V2G trials publish results, and those results get quoted as if they were a going rate. They are not. A trial’s payments belong to that trial’s document: its rate, caps, enrolled cars, tariff and grid. Change any of them and the arithmetic changes. The U.S. Department of Energy’s vehicle-to-everything collaboration exists because cars, chargers, codes and programmes still have to line up market by market — the only figure that applies to you is the one in a programme you can actually join.
Where EVDANCE Fits
Plainly: EVDANCE sells no bidirectional product, so nothing in its range can earn V2G payments. The EV-RHDC30K-L is a compact one-way DC fast charger of 22 kW with OCPP 1.6J, built to charge cars, not to discharge them. The full one-way range is on the products page. If V2G income is your goal, the documents to collect are a programme’s terms for your address and your car maker’s warranty position — in that order, before any hardware.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sell power to the grid without joining a programme?
No. Export needs the utility’s interconnection approval, metering that records what you send out, and an agreement that schedules and settles the export. Without those, there is no buyer for your car’s electricity. How the family of technologies fits together is covered in bidirectional charging explained.
Does V2G income cover the cost of the charger?
No one can promise that for your address. The payment side belongs to a programme; the cost side is a stack of hardware, installation, approval and metering. Only when both documents are in front of you — programme terms and an installed quote — can the two be compared.
Which cars can earn from V2G at all?
Only cars whose maker has enabled bidirectional use on that model, paired with a bidirectional charger and a programme. Capability is a car-by-car question; which EVs can do bidirectional charging explains how to check yours.
Related Reading
- Bidirectional Charging Explained: V2L, V2H and V2G
- Is Bidirectional Charging Worth It?
- Which EVs Can Do Bidirectional Charging?
- When Will Vehicle-to-Home Be Available?
